Sensational-Adelaide.com

bm7500 wrote:Looks great! Just what this eyesore of a location needs..... not that i would live there, i'd be too scared of what i'd dig up im my backyard

oh just a bit of arsenic here and there. I heard that SAR used lots of arsenic poisoning back in their railway heyday, and environmental friendly storage techniques didnt really exist. Whoops

AtD wrote:They get 10 points for putting the higher density areas and what looks like a shopping centre next to the train station. That's what they should have done at Mawson Lakes.

Just like the Port Adelaide waterfront development, DTEI really need to do something about the station!

Another Mawson lakes style station would be really good to have there with elevators and steps to the Regency Rd bridge, i kno that means more $$$ but the Gawler line is in need of some serious make over, specifically this station...

Anyway, i hope this one goes ahead, with any luck it will make the surrounding area a little bit more attractive.

I think the whole network is in a serious need of a makeover

The SAR used a non selective weed killer and ran an annual poison train to kill off weeds which helps with track drainage. The STA continued the practise after the SAR was split and sold off and only finished around 1984 when they sold their only two locomotives (830 and 845) to AN. It was actually quite an interesting train to see as well with a couple of tank wagons and a couple of flat wagons with spraying equipment and a 'garden shed' mounted on it.

Here are a few photos of what Islington station is like now and also the current site. Considering that Islington station is a shithole and has been designated a 'Hi Frequency' (ie 15 minute headway) station and that it connects with the route 100 bus, such an upgrade would not go astray.

Oh, it's beautiful.

There seems to be a bit of cleaning up on this site. I saw bulldozers and trees being trimmed back today, i hope they are about to start something soon.

Looks like they have also taken to the awning on one of the sheds behind the main goods shed. Probably won't be long until they start on the old gantry crane.

Any ideas why this site isn't a TOD?

Will409 wrote:Looks like they have also taken to the awning on one of the sheds behind the main goods shed. Probably won't be long until they start on the old gantry crane.

I had a good look around this afternoon, & got a few shots before it all comes down. I can remember it being constructed in the early 1970s,
as well as the erection of the Regency Road bridge. The open sewer used to run under Islington Rd (Regency) into the building that was
converted into the Salvos offices, before being dispersed in a network of wooden channels across the sewer farm.

II agree it is all good but behind all this it's a real pity Adelaide lost Islington - used to employ 800 (so I was told by a worker there) and was a major Australian works. Saw it at it's very end, still with draughtsmen, machine workers, locomotives (steam - 520 class and T class - and diesels) etc etc and in a sad state. Now we dont have a major rail rolling stock maintenace/construction site and have to get repairs elsewhere. The nerve centre is gone.Loss of heavy industry. What a shame. What a shame.

Like already mentioned before this post, hope Islington stn gets much better than it is currently - a windswept strip in an old industrial wilderness. Another Mawson Lakes would be good - in anticipation of electrification and greater nearby population.

ADELAIDE - CITY ON THE MOVE

I'll be prepared to bet $10 that All State Demolisions had the job of demolishing the former TNT, all the sheds, warehouses and crane infrastructure (with the exception of the crane itself) has been demolished. By this afternoon, all that remained of the former depot was the old platform, everything else was lying in steel piles. The only building that still remains standing is the burnt out shell of the former Yard Master's office at the southern end of the yard site next to Islington railway station and no doubt that will be going soon as well.

skyliner, Islington Workshops is actually busier then you'd think. New locomotives (the CFCLA RL class) are still being built at Islington although most loco drivers I know hate them because they aren't built that well. None the less, new flat wagons and hoppers are still being built/modified in large numbers at Islington as well as a lot of repainting work being done also. Don't let first impressions tell the whole story Finally, our wind turbines are being assembled there too.

Anyway, back to Palm Gardens. Can we count this as U/C or leave it be for the moment?

Will409 wrote:I'll be prepared to bet $10 that All State Demolisions had the job of demolishing the former TNT, all the sheds, warehouses and crane infrastructure (with the exception of the crane itself) has been demolished. By this afternoon, all that remained of the former depot was the old platform, everything else was lying in steel piles. The only building that still remains standing is the burnt out shell of the former Yard Master's office at the southern end of the yard site next to Islington railway station and no doubt that will be going soon as well.

skyliner, Islington Workshops is actually busier then you'd think. New locomotives (the CFCLA RL class) are still being built at Islington although most loco drivers I know hate them because they aren't built that well. None the less, new flat wagons and hoppers are still being built/modified in large numbers at Islington as well as a lot of repainting work being done also. Don't let first impressions tell the whole story Finally, our wind turbines are being assembled there too.

Anyway, back to Palm Gardens. Can we count this as U/C or leave it be for the moment?

Ahh! Thanks Will409. I was in the yards some time ago and saw some massive steel tube sections, wondered what the heck they were. Now I know.

Will409 wrote:I'll be prepared to bet $10 that All State Demolisions had the job of demolishing the former TNT

You sure it wasn't Will State Demolitions?

I think this one is u/c now. Drove past earlier, and they have cleared a lot of the site, and there are workmen/a truck/excavator still working on site.
It's one of those mining type trucks, weird, don't usually seem them at demolition sites do you?

Noted the mine style dumper truck a couple of days ago.

All the former yard roads and point with the exception of one at the southern most end of the former yard site have been removed. The one set of points that remains will probably be removed soon because the rails around the "frog" are heavily bent. The ballast on the southern half of the yard has also been dug up and it probably won't be long before the entire yard site has been dug up. The TNT depot itself is no more then the former platform. The only structure from the former yard that is left is the old gantry crane which I imagine will be scrapped on site.